Safety work
has to wait

Published:10:24Saturday 03 March 2012

DESPITE nine accidents involving injuries at Slead Syke, Brighouse, in little more than five years work to improve road safety work has to wait.

Councillor Colin Stout (Ind, Brighouse) is outraged that work to improve the road surface along the busy main road has not been planned for 2012/13 despite the number of injury accidents and a number of non-injury accidents which are not recorded.

“This is not acceptable at all. These accidents are not only causing a lot of damage to properties and stress for the residents but people walking up and down the road are extremely concerned that they may get knocked over if a car skids on the road surface.

“This site has been identified as needing attention and I want this money to be able to do the work whether it is funding through the budget or capital funding.”

Engineers have already been to look at the road surface in July last year and identified a need for maintenance work to take place. But Calderdale Council’s highways department has told Coun Stout that they want to in-corporate the work into other road improvements scheduled within that area.

These improvements include the possibility of a pedestrian island close to Maurice Avenue, no loading and unloading restrictions along Granny Hall Lane and bollards and potentially moving the bus stop on the opposite side of the road to the One Stop Shop closer to the Brighouse end of the layby.

“Out of the nine injury accidents, three of them were pedestrian casualties, two of which were serious and involved vulnerable pedestrians,” he said. “According to highways the road is second out of 100 sites throughout Calderdale on its priority list to put in the pedestrian refuge.

“Engineers have been out and recognise that the road needs scraping but now we need to find the finance. But how much does it cost to scrape the top until we can get the finance to resurface it.

“Something needs to be done at the junction with Granny Hall Lane now not in the next financial year. They have identified the pedestrian refuge is the second out of a possible 100 and yet we have still waited six months after it should have been put in and had no progress report as to why it has not been done. The police and Brighouse Road Safety Committee are in favour of action being taken along the road so why are we still waiting.”

He also wants a flashing sign which warns people about their speed putting up.

A Calderdale Council spokeswoman said: “Small sections of Halifax Road have triggered the need for an engineer site investigation. Some sections will be considered for mechanical retexturing in future programmes of works.”